These are certainly strange times we are living in. Buying and selling is down to basics. Non-essential stores have been shut for close to twenty days and if you’ve been paying close attention to what the authorities are hinting at, there’s every chance that this lockdown may go on till end of April, at least. As a sector which has been relatively slow in grappling with the changes the digital world has thrown at it, most of you are probably thinking why you didn’t invest your time, funds and energy towards getting that ecommerce channel up and running earlier. As a commodity, which is historically known for its high touch and feel quotient as well as emotional appeal, let’s be honest, we didn’t really need an ecommerce channel. While the rest of the world wrapped their brains around Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and other big trends, most jewellers were comfortable catering to their loyal audience personally, giving them the best possible in-store experience there is, and rightly so. People too, much rather preferred to go to their neighbourhood jeweller with their kith and kin, to buy jewellery.

Enter COVID-19, and you are flummoxed because you have never been in a situation where you’ve had to temporarily shutdown your business indefinitely. You are wondering what you can do to expand your digital presence to rake in some sort of business after some semblance of normalcy trickles in. If social distancing becomes a norm for the foreseeable future, your stores may be a complementary experience to your e-commerce portal, at least for some time.

So, what now? Should I use some of that corpus to get my e-commerce portal started?

Your instinct right now tells you to be risk averse. In the current climate, where business is at a standstill, should you be looking into launching something new? The answer is ‘yes’. There is going to be a definite shift in the minds of a consumer after coronavirus. “India has varied audience. Some customers would be comfortable buying online, but many would prefer coming down to the store, especially bridal jewellery and high value products. However, an e-commerce presence is essential, to at least showcase your products to those people who are not comfortable travelling,” says Suvankar Sen of Senco Gold & Diamonds.

“India has varied audience. Some customers would be comfortable buying online, but many would prefer coming down to the store, especially bridal jewellery and high value products. However, an e-commerce presence is essential, to at least showcase your products to those people who are not comfortable travelling - Suvankar Sen, Senco Gold & Diamonds

Vaibhav Jewellers is one of the few jewellery brands in India that has pioneered in e-commerce. Along with e-commerce, they also have video shopping and augmented reality driven “try-on” feature. Unlike most brands that curate collections specifically for their e-commerce portals, Vaibhav’s entire inventory across all their 12 stores is available to shop online. Even with such a robust e-commerce channel, there is currently no sale happening. However, the website is getting a lot of enquiries. “People are enquiring and they are trying out our jewellery using our try-on feature. There is a lot of interaction,” says R. Satish of Vaibhav. One of the reasons you should think of getting that e-commerce website up and running is that you can work on all those leads you had received during the lockdown period and work on processing the same once the lockdown is over. “In the coming times, a lot of business will move to e-commerce, in all spheres. Even categories that didn’t do well online, will start doing well, like luxury goods. In jewellery purchase, there is actually 2 phases. First is selection and next is transaction. The selection phase can be done online with tools like try it on, video shopping etc. The transaction can happen in stores. For items like gold coins and bars, online purchase is completely possible. We are getting a lot of enquiries – currently because of lockdown, supply and logistics is not in place. So we are not taking orders because we can’t commit to any delivery date right now. We are making a note of all enquires and as soon as the lockdown is over, we will get the orders processed,” says Saurabh Gadgil of PNG Jewellers.

People are enquiring and they are trying out our jewellery using our try-on feature. There is a lot of interaction - R. Satish, Vaibhav Jewellers

 

The fact that brands with an e-commerce presence are getting enquiries goes to show that there is some semblance of demand. This is one of the reasons why companies with an e-commerce portal are better poised to handle the situation post lockdown. Candere by Kalyan Jewellers is taking orders right now for which delivery will happen after three months. As an out and out e-commerce company, they are fully equipped to work from home. “Even though we are not doing a lot of business, we are still engaging with our audience. Once the lockdown is over, we will be in a better position to make conversions. Even after the lockdown, people will not directly rush to the stores. They may prefer ordering online for a few months. Since the lockdown began, more transactions are happening digitally, so we will witness a general shift in habit – people will be more inclined to shopping online,” says Rupesh Jain of Candere.

We are getting a lot of enquiries – currently because of lockdown, supply and logistics is not in place. So we are not taking orders because we can’t commit to any delivery date right now. We are making a note of all enquires and as soon as the lockdown is over, we will get the orders processed Saurabh Gadgil, PNG Jewellers

I don’t have the bandwidth to create an e-commerce portal right now. What can I do?

In today’s time and date there are a lot of tools available to a retailer, even if he doesn’t want to invest in an e-commerce portal.

Even after the lockdown, people will not directly rush to the stores. They may prefer ordering online for a few months. Since the lockdown began, more transactions are happening digitally, so we will witness a general shift in habit – people will be more inclined to shopping online - Rupesh Jain, Candere

Take the plunge, start off with a basic e-commerce website

As the going gets tough, it is clearly going to be a case of survival of the fittest. Even with social media and other tools available to you, having a basic e-commerce website has to be on your priority. “It will be sometime before jewellers can come out with new inventory because all the karigars are back in their hometown.  So, jewellers must be able to showcase their current inventory,” says Megna. In today’s time and date, it doesn’t take much to create a basic e-commerce website. “Make a basic website which will not cost you more than 2-2.5 lakhs. At least they can generate enquiry,” adds Rupesh. It also depends on the kind of audience you are dealing with. “Today, making a website is not an expensive proposition at all. There are so many options in the offing right now. What is important is you need to see who your clientele is and whether he or she is inclined to make a purchase online. If a jeweller is in a smaller town where distances are not very long, people won’t mind coming to the store and picking it up. In urban cities, people may use ecommerce more frequently,” adds Saurabh.  You have all the time in the world to put your thoughts together and come out with a fully functional e-commerce website by the time the lock-down is over. May be you won’t strike gold on day one, but at least you will be able to capitalize on the data you capture. 

We are getting enquiries from many jewellers right now. During this lockdown period, they at least want their product to be discovered - Meghna Saraogi, Mirrar by StyleDotMe